AIRPORT NEWS

The Greensburg Board of Aviation Commissioners met on Monday evening at Greensburg City Hall. New business for the night included a beginning of a list by Board vice president, Bill Ernstes and Airport manager, Jerry Scheidler on repairs and maintenance at the airport. This list includes new replacing new doors on several hangers, replacing the rotary fuel pump system, updates to the taxi way, painting hanger F, tiling wet spots in the area, purchasing a large bat-wing mower, and upgrades to the current security system for the terminal. Ernstes stated that these changes will occur over the next few years as some of the projects will be pricey. In other business, the board approved payments for the month, read and approved the minutes from January, and went over the financial report. The Board of Aviation meets every 4th Monday at 7:00pm at City Hall.
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The Airport board met Tuesday night where they discussed the nearing completion of their new Jet A Fuel system. Airport Manager, Jerry Scheidler, reported that he expects technicians from the company Fuel Tech to arrive next week to complete the installation of the new system.

The fuel system should be up and running by the second week of June.

BF&S engineer Don Manley reported to the board that he had conducted a field investigation on the cracks that appeared in the runway after this harsh winter. At the April meeting, airport manager Jerry Scheidler had brought these cracks to the attention of the board, and after some discussion the board agreed to look into having these cracks repaired later this year. However, Don Manleys investigation found the cracks to be not severe enough to cause concern at this point in time, passing out literature to the board which stated that cracks smaller in 3/8 are not substantial enough to warrant sealing. Don Manley stated he observed 640 ft. of cracks less than 1/8 and 80 ft. of cracks that were of an inch wide. Mr. Manley pointed out that a small patch of sealing had been done on one location of the runway by the asphalt company OMara, a job of which he was not impressed.

Don Manley also received permission from the board to continue pursuing grant funding for the reimbursement of legal fees for a previous land acquisition as well as for the taxi-way overlay project. As part of this taxi-way overlay project he suggested the board quote as an alternate the possibility of using an infrared heating process to rebind the asphalt as opposed to doing the traditional method of milling down one inch of asphalt and laying down two new inches. Under this infrared heating method, the asphalt will be chewed up, reheated, rejuvenated, rebound, and then resurfaced, with one half to a full inch of new asphalt being placed on top of the surface to make it look better cosmetically. Mr. Manley reported this method has been in use as early as 1983 and looks very good as an option to save the airport money. The board agreed to continue investigating this option.

The Airport Board met Monday evening at City Hall where they reviewed the status of the new fuel system installation, discussed the sealing of the runway and agreed to accept a settlement offer from the Don & Barb Horan estate.

The $30,000 settlement will cover half the total cost of the original contact agreement for the hanger. The agreement also releases the Airport from any wrongful death litigation.
It was reported that the old Jet-A fuel tank had been removed as agreed upon at the last meeting. The fuel tank and remaining fuel was deemed to have no salvage value, and was given to the Foggs upon signing a release of liability. The new Jet-A fuel tank is now sitting on site and the airport is currently waiting for the purchase and installation of a new three phase power supply and emergency kill switch for the pumping station. They currently have no firm date on when the fuel system will be up and running.

It was brought to the attention of the board that due to the bad weather this winter, cracks have begun to appear on the runway ranging in size from hairline to quarter of an inch, despite the pavement only being a year and a half old. BF&S engineer Don Manly suggested that the board wait and see what the runway looks like in the fall to determine if sealing is needed as sealing isnt normally done on any crack less than a quarter of an inch in size. Board member Oris Reece moved to make the decision to seal this September, as the runway is a long term investment that needs to be protected. Don Whipple seconded the motion and the board agreed to get bids this summer to seal the runway.

Board Member Bill Ernst asked to have a release of liability drawn up for the use of his mini-excavator on the airport property. Bill has let the airport borrow his mini-excavator free of charge in the past as well as a bushog mower. The board decided it would be more appropriate to rent the mini-excavator, and agreed to pay Mr. Ernst $10 and grant a release of liability.

The Greensburg Airport Board met Monday night at City Hall where they elected a new president and held discussions regarding the new Jet-A fuel system and the legal situation with Hanger H.

The Airport board was pleased to hear that the Department of Homeland Security had granted them the required permissions to proceed with the replacement of the airports Jet-A fuel system that has been out of operation for several months due to safety concerns regarding the possibility of water being present in the fuel system.

WTRE Spoke with new elected president Jon Dooley about the fuel system and hanger H.

Engineer Don Manley reported on several legislative bills currently in consideration that may affect the local airport such as policies on quoting projects over $100,000 and state taxation rules changes. Mr. Manly also informed the board that a meeting has been set up to meet with the FAA to finalize comments on the environmental assessment for the proposed airport expansion.

The Board of Airport Commissioners met Monday evening at City Hall where they discussed the finalization of their budget. The boards committee had been working on cleaning up and reviewing line items in the budget that had not been adjusted for a while, such as snow removal which is now handled in house with airport equipment. The budget total of $80,670 did not change this year.

Aviation Engineer Don Manly told the board that in the past airports that have failed the runway approach surface guidelines have had to close down approaches, or enforce stricter regulations regarding landing.

Don Manly also reported that there have been two important changes regarding the State of Indiana and the airport capital improvement plan. The state has agreed to up their portion of matching funds for federal grant projects from 2.5% to 5%. This lowers the required local match to 5% with the federal match remaining at 90%. The State is also adding a low interest loan program through the Indiana Finance Authority, however all current projects on the airports capital improvement plan fall under the federal grant guidelines.

In the final draft of the airports five year capital improvement plan, two additions have been made. First is the inclusion of work on the airports existing taxi-way. As well as the addition of a payment management program for the airport.

The status of the Horan Hanger was brought up at the meeting, and is still currently being discussed by the lawyers of both sides looking to reach an agreement on the long term lease that was signed last year. The airport is currently actively looking to find someone else to lease the hanger.

Also during the meeting the board discussed a new form that is available at city hall and on the city of Greensburg website, (http://www.cityofgreensburg.com/) to be filled out by individuals who wish to be placed on the agenda to speak at the airport board meetings. Individuals wishing to speak at the meeting must be on the agenda.

The Greensburg Board of Aviation Commissioners met Monday night where they approved the purchase of a new fuel tank system for their Jet A fuel. Currently safety issues involving water in the fuel system has shut down the airports ability to sell Jet A fuel. The board received four bids for the installation of a new system or a repair of the old system and reviewed each of those bids at the nights meeting, ultimately selecting Fuel Techs proposal, which was the lowest cost proposal as well as the recommended system by Avfuel the airports fuel supplier. The cost for this system was listed at just over $106,000 with the board opting to include two additional options, a side mounted ladder and sump fuel recovery system that will increase the cost by several thousand dollars. The options will allow the airport to save some money in the long run, as it will let them recover fuel during their sump inspections which could amount to as much as five gallons daily depending on how often inspections will be performed.

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An update was given on the status of the large hanger that had been under a long term lease with the Horan estate. The board hopes that they will soon be able to find a renter for the space to help mitigate cost on both sides. The hanger is harder to rent that the other structures on the property as it was built with special specifications for a larger aircraft.
Aviation Engineer Don Manly reported to the board the status of the five year Capital Improvement plan that he hopes will pass at the December meeting. He reported that there were only minor changes made from the previous plan, but the board chose to add an additional back-up project, the improvement of the taxi-way areas that were not covered in the most recent runway upgrades.

Audience members were given a chance to speak at this meeting as they have at the past, but in the future those wishing to speak at the meetings are asked to contact the board to be placed on the Agenda.

The Greensburg Airport Commission met last night in City Hall where they discussed the progress on their environmental application as well as repairs on two buildings.

Andrew Maksymovicth of Butler, Fairmen and Suefert informed the commission that due to the recent government sequester the Environmental Assessment submitted for the airport expansion is still sitting in Chicago without any new developments. One thing that has changed however is the need for some additional work and information for the required public hearings. This work is outside of the scope that was originally set back in 2001 when the process was started. The cost of this additional work will be covered with funds from the original grant and the local share will amount to $600 to continue with the process under the new guidelines.

Andrew also informed the Commission that it was time for a warranty inspection on the airports runway that was paved last year.

The Commission reviewed quotes for repairs on two buildings at the airport. These were quotes and not bids as they were not advertised.

The Commission elected to go with Elsners quote to replace the metal roof on hanger F for five thousand dollars. This was the lower of the two quotes the airport received. The repair work on building A was tabled however as the Commission wanted to clarify the scope of the work they were asking the contractors to preform to ensure the quotes were as identical as possible. This was necessary as the quotes for the building A repairs had a range of over four thousand dollars difference between the high and low quotes.

The Airports new website is now up and running and can be accessed from the city of Greensburgs website. The Commission plans to continue updating the site with more information in the near future.